State spill response leader resigns in frustration over flood effort

Ed Meggert said that while most of the Department of Environmental Conservation divisions handled matters well, his unit -- the Division of Spill Prevention and Response -- failed internally.

Commissioner Larry Hartig said his department came through well for communities affected by the spring ice jams and flooding and he appreciates the job Meggert has done for DEC. He also said Meggert's concerns will be investigated and acted upon if warranted.

"Whether Ed or somebody else comes forward with concerns, we're certainly going to take those to heart," Hartig said. "I do want to look into the specifics. If we see areas where we could do better, we are going to follow up on those."

The unprecedented flooding and ice jams toppled diesel tanks and sent fuel containers and spilled material into the Yukon, leaving iridescent puddles of oil in village streets. DEC's spill response team, which Meggert leads, was on the scene in Eagle within a few days of the main flood and traveled to other villages up and down the Yukon as water drove destruction downriver. Other DEC divisions, including solid waste and drinking water, responded as well.

"Other sections of DEC did very well, but the spill response group was miserable," Meggert said. "The system absolutely broke down, and the worst part of it was the money situation."

Channels to tap into emergency funds and cut deals with contractors more or less closed, he said. Meggert was challenged to convince people in DEC that an emergency existed, yet he's authorized to push the responders into emergency mode as incident commander.

Those in charge of opening funds "did nothing but throw roadblocks up," Meggert said.

"Everything that could have gone wrong, went wrong," Meggert said. "Nobody else viewed this as a disaster, except us (Meggert and another employee). I've been through numerous floods, the earthquake. I have done this before, and I have never seen a cluster like this before."

Assembling an incident command team as per regulation, Meggert found only one employee willing to help. He was forced to send a new employee with a week of initial training to go out into the field alone. No one was available to help with logistics, supplies, environmental issues or contracting.

At one point, DEC failed to pay a Fairbanks contractor its full bill, Meggert said. He covered the $6,000 gap out of his own pocket, an expenditure which might not be reimbursed by the state.

Meggert joined DEC in 1995 and has worked spill response for numerous floods and an earthquake.

Lack of internal support is one thing, but Meggert said the final blow was a concern for DEC staff working under him.

"I sent them out individually to dangerous situations, for which I'm personally liable, and then I had them working for no money," he said. "I did it because it had to be done. People were out of their homes. But I won't do it again. I can't afford to take those chances, nor will I do it to the people I work with."

"It was very important to this department and all the rest of the departments in the state that we really help the communities out there in a challenging situation, and as we do that, to make sure our people are safe on the ground," Hartig said. "Overall, I was very proud of the job DEC and the other agencies did."

In particular, he plans to look into funding sources and channels during emergency situations.

Meggert said he hopes Hartig, whom he labels a fair and good commissioner, does just that.

"We managed to get it (the response) done," Meggert said. "People were pretty happy."

He will retire effective today.